Hirsh Goodman

Hirsh Goodman (born 1946, Port Elizabeth, South Africa) is the former editor-in-chief of the The Jerusalem Report and a former member of WINEP. He is also a contributing editor to U.S. News & World Report, a contributor to the New Republic, and a news analyst for CBS News. He is currently a Senior Research Associate at the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University. He is married to the New York Times Jerusalem correspondent Isabel Kershner.

Biography

Hirsh Goodman was born in Apartheid-era South Africa where he was active in Zionist causes from an early age. He immigrated to Israel in 1965 and served as a paratrooper in the 1967 war. In 1971 he started his journalistic career as the military reporter for the Jerusalem Post eventually ending up as the editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Report. Goodman is married to Isabel Kershner of the New York Times and has four children and lives in Jerusalem.

Defending the Gaza Assault and the Freedom Flotilla massacre

Goodman has described the Israeli assault on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, in which nine activists were killed by Israeli commandos as a 'brutal attack on the Israeli commandos' and as 'organized and life-threatening violence that met the descending troops.' He has repeated the Israeli military's false claims about 'terrorist' affiliations of the the activists. He also repeated the Israeli military's claim -- based on an audio doctored by the Israelis -- that the activists told the Israelis to 'go back to Auschwitz.' He has reserved his criticism for the intelligence community, for bungling of the propaganda war during the flotilla massacre and Operation Cast Lead. He advises:

Both in Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, which led to the Goldstone commission, and in this incident, the need for materials that will help Israel make its case are crucial. This is no longer a question of image, but in the context of post-Goldstone realities and the concerted campaign to besmirch Israel and de-legitimize the country, it is probably as important, if not more so, than the conventional battles Israel faces. As a result of this campaign, Israel faces economic, artistic, and academic embargoes, continuous attacks in the UN, and other world forums...It is time for those in the intelligence and security communities to switch gear when it comes to information sharing...Israel has in place the necessary public diplomacy structures to make Israel's case effectively. But without ammunition they are powerless.

Affiliations

• WINEP
• Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies
• The New Republic
• Jerusalem Post - military correspondent
• Institute for National Security Studies

Publications

• Let me create a paradise, God said to himself: A childhood in South Africa and a life in Israel